The "Basic 4" Warm-up

(posted Nov 2009)

This new routine replaces other "warm-up" related items that have been on this website such as the daily routine menu and the building block routine. People familiar with those materials will find many of the same ideas continued in this new routine. This routine takes about 12 minutes to play through (if you don't extend patterns higher or lower).

Here's a link to the Basic 4 Warm-Up (pdf) file.

As time permits, I might post variations on the exercises presented here.

The basic four are...

Wind and Sound

Goals: Get the air moving. Get a nice, full buzz on the mouthpiece. Gliss with a full sound: first on the mouthpiece, then the trombone through different registers.

Flow

Goals: Moving air - moving notes - no tongue. Play with ease and musical direction.

Basic Lip Slurs

Goals: Moving easily through the overtone series without interrupting the air or the sound. Getting the lips to be more responsive.

Basic Scales

Goals: Coordinating air, tongue, and slide. Extending higher and lower.

Just as the lower floors of a building support the upper floors, you must regularly work to make sure that your "musical building" has a solid foundation.